Ohayo gozaimasu. That's all I can say in Japanese, so I'm afraid I will have to continue in English! Firstly, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the National Institute of Science and Technology Policy or NISTEP for organizing this International Conference on Technology Foresight.
We, the APEC Center for Technology Foresight, are very honored to be the co-organizer of this conference, and we very much appreciate the support that NISTEP has provided to enable such distinguished speakers from all over the world to come here today.
I have been asked to give a brief introduction to the APEC Center for Technology Foresight. The Center is very new in this field, much newer to foresight than many of you, the audience, many of whom have been working in this field for a long time. We look forward to learning about your experiences at this conference. You may see on the slide that our current Honorary Director is Dr. Arthur Carty, who is the president of the National Research Council of Canada. I am the Co-Director based in Thailand. Our Executive Advisor, Prof. Greg Tegart, is here today. Prof Tegart was the first director of the Center and he has been instrumental in initiating many, many activities, so that we can make the progress that I am reporting to you today.
The APEC Center for Technology Foresight claims to be the first to carry out multi-national foresight work, which in our case encompasses the economies of APEC. We have a short history, starting only in February 1998, with the support of the Royal Thai Government. Our office in Bangkok is sort of like a workshop center because we only have a very small staff of 3-4 people. We undertook a very comprehensive feasibility study before the launching, and we had support from the APEC Central Fund. We also receive considerable support 'in kind' from many APEC economies; this conference is an excellent example.
Our objective is to promote the adoption of technology foresight. We would like our Center to provide a means for comparison of technology foresight exercises in APEC, with a view to stimulating 'Best Practice' in the conduct of foresight studies. And we conduct technology foresight exercises on an APEC-wide basis. After we have gained sufficient experience, we hope also to be able to develop a foresight research capability. Our ultimate aim is to improve technology-related planning and development in the region.
The definition of technology foresight that has been adopted by our center is that: "Foresight involves systematic attempts to look into the future of science, technology, the economy and society, with a view to identifying emerging generic technologies and the underpinning areas of strategic research likely to yield the greatest economic, social and environmental benefit". So you see that it is not just about technology because technology by itself does not work; it needs to be integrated with other parts like the economy, the environment and society.
We believe that technology foresight is a valuable strategic planning tool because it involves the consideration of a range of possible futures instead of a single one. We try to maintain the balance between the S&T push and the market pull. In our conduct of technology foresight, we would like to emphasize the process rather than the product. We believe that foresight encourages meaningful participation of stake-holders in decision-making processes.
The Center undertakes a range of activities. We conduct research studies, training workshops and public seminars, provide consultation and support to member economies, and publish the outcomes of our activities. We also have a website which I invite you all to review; we can see room for improvement and hopefully, we'll get better as time goes on.
Our first research study started in 1998, immediately after the launch, on the topic of "Water Supply and Management in the APEC region". A previous survey of the member economies had rated this as a very important topic. This project was completed within one year, and you can see some of the publications here.
In 1999, we launched another project called "Technology for Learning and Culture". This is also complete and the resulting publication is available here. Simultaneously we launched another project on Megacities, which continues into 2000. This one has two subprojects, one on "Sustainable Transport for APEC Megacities" which we have just finished, and a second one on "Healthy Futures for APEC Megacities" we are in the middle of. We will be holding an APEC-wide Experts Meeting at the end of May, using scenario-planning techniques, and plan to complete the project by the end of this year.
Regarding training workshops, at the time of the launch of our Center, we conducted a training workshop on "Using Technology Foresight" with 30 participants from 6 APEC member economies. We have also done a scenario-planning training workshop for Mahidol University Faculty of Public Health on the theme of 'obesity', and arranged two one-day training workshops on foresight in Bangkok in December 1999. This year, we have been invited to run training workshops in Malaysia in March and in Mexico in July.
We look for opportunities to conduct public seminars, to let the public know about technology foresight. Unfortunately we have only found these opportunities in Bangkok so far, but these have been successful and are attracting increasing interest. The first event was on our launching occasion on the 3rd of February 1998. Later that year, we arranged an Executive Seminar on the issue of the "Digital Economy" which included a video-conference with an expert from the U.S.A. We held a public seminar on "Technology for Learning and Culture" in November 1998, and in June 1999 we had Prof. Ben Martin from the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) in the UK to talk about "The role of foresight in 'wiring up' the national innovation system". Finally, we had a meeting on "Science Policy and Innovation" on the 2nd of December last year. Next week, Dr. Paul Reynolds, will talk on "Foresight and Innovation in New Zealand" in Bangkok.
The APEC Center for Technology Foresight offers consultation to APEC economies, to help and encourage them to undertake foresight activities of their own. We were able to assist with a technology foresight exercise for Thailand, the Center's host economy, on agricultural development. And we are just starting to look into the vision and strategy for 2020 for Thailand, in a project about science and technology for development. The workshop I mentioned in Malaysia is at the request of the Construction Development Board of Malaysia, and we are also going to Mexico in July, to run training programs and discuss their plans for a national foresight program.
Our website provides information about the Center and its activities. Research papers and reports can be downloaded. Over 40,000 visitors have consulted our site since its launch towards the end of 1997. Discussion facilities are available on the site but have not been well used, and so we are planning to develop a new APEC Technology Foresight Network, with the expert help of the National Research Council of Canada. A speaker from Canada will talk more about this later.
This is the end of my talk. Thank you very much.